Brandon Johnson, the University of San Diego’s all-time leading scorer in men’s basketball, spent the summer incarcerated at a Houston prison. Johnson was serving a six-month sentence for his role in USD’s game-fixing scandal.

Johnny Dee passed the summer jogging in deep sand on the beach and pushing a 120-pound sled around a campus parking lot, in part to expunge Johnson’s name from the USD record book.

The Toreros open their 65th season Friday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion against South Dakota State. A junior out of Rancho Buena Vista High and originally a non-scholarship walk-on, Dee is on pace to break Johnson’s career scoring record.

Humble and devout in his Christian faith, Dee doesn’t deny wanting to erase Johnson’s name from the USD scrolls.

“I’d be lying if I said I never heard that or thought about it,” said Dee, sweat still soaking his brow after practice Tuesday. “I think it’d just be good to close the door on the whole Brandon Johnson deal.”

Bill Grier begins his seventh year as the Toreros’ head coach. His last winning season was his first, the 2007-08 campaign when USD upset Gonzaga in the final of the West Coast Conference Tournament, then shocked UConn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Since then? A .500 season, followed by four losing records and the Catholic university’s name being dragged through the game-fixing sewer.

Now there’s a sense of optimism atop Alcala Park. The Toreros will unveil Duda Sanadze, a 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore from the Republic of Georgia who can score and plays with a scowl across his face.

The Toreros beat out Gonzaga for 6-6 freshman forward Brett Bailey, who grew up in the Zags’ backyard of Spokane, Wash.

Then there’s the 6-foot-tall, sharp-shooting Dee. He led the Toreros in scoring his freshman season, averaging 13.4 points per game. He led them again last year, upping his total to 15 points per game.

His two-year total: 937 points. With USD expected to play a more up-tempo style, Dee’s scoring numbers will likely rise. Should Dee stay healthy and merely repeat his two-year production, he’ll finish with 1,874 career points.

Johnson’s record: 1,790.

Regarding Dee being on pace to rewrite the record book and polish USD’s image, Grier said: “I’m not going to get into comparing (them as people). I’m just saying that Johnny, spiritually, the type of character he has, the student he is, the type of person he is, he’s just a great young man.”

A business-finance major, Dee began his junior year with a 3.48 grade-point average. He volunteers with his church, having helped paint a house and pull weeds at a house for AIDS patients in Escondido and build a home in Ensenada.

“It was amazing seeing how grateful the people were for getting the house,” Dee said.

No one, of course, is perfect. Asked to provide some dirt on Dee, talkative sophomore Jito Kok fell atypically silent.

“I literally don’t know of anything,” Kok said. “He’s basically like an angel of a guy.”

Fans may do a double take when they see Dee for the first time this season. Weightlifting four days a week for 60 to 90 minutes added 10 pounds of muscle. At 185 pounds, he looks like a high school strong safety.

“He worked his butt off,” Grier said.

While acknowledging that he’s gunning for Johnson’s scoring record, Dee is quick to point out that his backcourt mate, 5-7 Christopher Anderson, is on pace to break Johnson’s all-time assists record.

Said Dee: “No disrespect to (Johnson), but if two guys could come in here and break those records, you could say goodbye to what he was.”